“The prime minister has agreed to lend weight of his office for monitoring state governments. He will also take up the matter with the chief ministers of various states, especially with the Uttarakhand government, as unnatural mortality of tigers have been reported from Corbett National Park," he said.
According to Mr. Ramesh, 11 tigers were killed in first two months of 2010 while 66 tigers were killed last year.
“The normal mortality of tiger in a year is 30 but 66 were killed in 2009. Of these, 46 were killed inside tiger reserves while 20 were killed in forests. People from mafias to local politicians and many others are involved in it as they want the tiger population to dwindle so that the land can be used for mining or construction," he added.
Mr. Ramesh said the state governments would be requested to expedite the process of notification of critical wildlife habitats under the Forests Rights Act, 2006 to minimise impacts on wildlife.
“There has been some progress on settlement of rights of people living in forests but not an inch has moved in protection of wildlife. Despite several reminders, many state governments have not taken steps for notifications of buffer zones in tiger reserves in the country. The delay in notification is not accidental but deliberate," he said. Read the full report here:
